Sport

Weatherly weighs pros and cons of hectic season

MONTEGO BAY, St James — Dr Dean Weatherly coach of ISSA/Wata daCosta Cup semi-finalists Cornwall College believes it is in his team's best interest that they keep playing ahead of the November 15 showdown, rather than have almost two weeks of rest.

Cornwall College will play Camperdown High in an ISSA Champions Cup quarter-final at the Montego Bay Sports Complex tomorrow and will be the only one of the four semi-finalists who will have a competitive game between last weekend and this weekend.

The other three semi-finalists — Clarendon College, Dinthill Technical and Frome Technical — were all knocked out of the Champions Cup last weekend and will have a 12-day break before the daCosta Cup semi-finals.

“Playing this weekend can be an advantage as well as a disadvantage, depending on several variables,” Weatherly told the Jamaica Observer yesterday.

“It is good for us to have a game as we get to keep the boys active and also we can work out strategies in actual games. We can always try out the new strategies in squad games, but it is an advantage to be able to do that in an actual game against an opponent who will also be trying to win,” he added.

Weatherly, who has guided Cornwall College to 10 titles — four daCosta Cups, five Ben Francis KO and one Olivier Shield — including the treble in 2001 pointed out that the risk of sustaining injuries or being forced to play players with niggling injuries and not allowing them to rest fully was a big disadvantage.

“At this stage of the season, every team will have injuries and some of these injuries will need rest, so the teams that can rest injured or tired players will benefit from a long rest,” Weatherly said.

“There is always the risk of overworking these young players at this time as teams chase titles, so we have to be careful about the amount of work we give them,” he went on.

Given the option of continuing to play games at well-spaced intervals rather prolonged inactivity, Weatherly said he would choose the former.

“It is good to play games. you don't want the players to lose their rhythm, get match rusty, and as youngsters, they can also get distracted, so it is good for them to keep playing and hope to avoid injury or being burnt out,” Weatherly ended.

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